


The Lunch Table

by morganofthewildfire



Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, Swearing, rowaelin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25246987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganofthewildfire/pseuds/morganofthewildfire
Summary: A modern rowaelin fic based off of the tumblr prompt “I have no one to sit with at lunch so I sat at your table and now your friends are not-so subtly kicking you under the table. Now they’re very loudly whispering that your crush has shown up and oh my god. I have never seen you this red by the way.”
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien & Rowan Whitethorn
Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992880
Comments: 9
Kudos: 105





	The Lunch Table

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfiction so I hope it’s not too terrible.

Aelin Galathynius walked into the cafeteria with a sigh, scanning the room for a place to sit. Aedion was sick, Lysandra was on vacation, and Chaol and Dorian had to stay in their last class for lunch to finish an assignment, so she was left to fend for herself. Of course, she could sit at the table they all normally sat at, but something in her rebelled at sitting alone at an empty lunch table, so her plan was instead to pick out another group’s table with a few empty seats on the end, keeping her separated from them but not completely isolated from everyone in the room.

Unfortunately, the only table that matched that description was currently half filled by the Cadre, as she so lovingly called them. They weren’t the most popular crew in the school. An understatement actually, most people hated them. They were seen as rude, condescending, jerks, and Aelin couldn’t help but agree for some of the members, especially Lorcan, but she had a soft spot for Rowan Whitethorn. Well, she called it a soft spot, others would call it a massive crush. But nobody knew that, so she figured it was safe to sit there without rousing anyone’s suspicion. 

She walked over there and slid into the seat at the end, leaving two seats between her and the nearest guy, who she knew was named Fenrys. He was easily the most gorgeous out of the group, with tan skin and golden curls, but he had never been that attractive to her, mainly because of his obnoxious personality that somehow stretched across every inch of the school. She minded her own business as she unpacked her lunch box and pulled out her food, but she could feel six pairs of eyes on her, well five pairs actually, Rowan was resolutely not looking at her. Instead, he was glancing down at his own food. Another reason she hadn’t told anyone about her crush, he showed absolutely no interest in her and she wasn’t going to embarrass herself with unrequited feelings.

“Can we help you?” Lorcan grumbled from his seat, conveniently the farthest one away from hers. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the tone, but Fenrys got a response in before she could open her mouth.

“Don’t be like that, Lorcan, let her stay,” he said in a playful tone that she rolled her eyes at, hoping this conversation wouldn’t turn to his favorite pastime of flirting with everything that moved, but she missed the wink he sent Rowan’s way after she turned her head. She noticed Gavriel, seated opposite of Fenrys, rolling his eyes slightly as well, no doubt just as done with Fenrys’ behavior as she was. She also could’ve sworn that Rowan’s, who was sitting next to Gavriel, face looked slightly red, but she figured that was due to the weird lighting in this building.

“Why would I want to spend time with a spoiled brat?” Lorcan continued, causing her eyebrows to rise. Gavriel, Fenrys, and even the other two, Connall and Vaughan, made sounds of protest, all admonishing him for being rude, but Rowan remained noticeably silent, eyes still downcast.

“I’m not trying to butt into your guys’ business, I’m just sitting here for the day, is that a problem?” She asked a little harshly. Fenrys shook his head dramatically, but Gavriel was the one to speak.

“No it’s fine, we’ll deal with Mr. Grumpy over here.” And with that, Aelin turned back to her food, exiting the conversation. But that’s when the whispering started. She tried to just focus on her food, staying out of whatever they felt necessary to try and hide from her, but the temptation was too much and she turned to eavesdropping to pick up the information.

“Now’s your chance, Rowan!” She heard Fenrys mutter, not really grasping the concept of staying quiet as well as the others.

“Fuck off,” Rowan replied. Oh, she loved his voice, all smooth and sexy even when cursing at people. She heard a kick under the table and Fenrys’ screech of pain. Then there was more whispering from the opposite side of the table, Vaughan most likely, that she couldn’t really make out. 

“Just leave him alone, guys,” Gavriel added in, more intelligibly since he was closer to her than most of the others. Her eyebrows rose a little bit at that statement, and she chose that time to grab her backpack and unzip it to pull out her book and read. She heard more muttering, some of it a little harsher than before and then Fenrys spoke.

“Well I’m not letting you waste this opportunity.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw him turn to her and saw Rowan frantically trying to keep him from saying whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “Rowan here has something he’d like to ask you,” he said teasingly. Rowan shook his head a fraction of an inch, and when she turned to look his way, awaiting his question, she saw that his face was bright red in a way that couldn’t be excused by bad lighting. Was that him blushing? She thought, but quickly excused that idea because there’d be no reason for him to be that flustered. He didn’t like her, in fact he tended to be more on the dislike side of the spectrum, constantly ignoring her in the classes they had together. That hadn’t stopped her from liking him though.

Rowan opened his mouth and stammered for a second before his eyes caught on her backpack, seemingly coming to his senses after that.

“Do you know the answer to question 8 on the history homework?” He finally said, referring to one of the three classes they had together. Fenrys let out an exasperated noise, letting her know that that was not the question he had in mind, but she was eager to escape whatever embarrassment the original question was likely to provoke, so she didn’t point it out.

“Yeah, I have the worksheet right here,” she responded, pulling it out of her already open backpack. She quickly scanned it, looking for question 8. “I put down C, and I got that answer from Dorian so I know it’s right,” she said, naming one of her best friends and history brainiac. He let out a little chuckle at that comment as he pulled out his own worksheet and copied down the answer.

“Thanks, Aelin,” he said, and the sound of her name on his tongue and the little smile he gave her made her heart flutter. 

“No problem,” she replied, “Rowan”, she added a moment later, testing out his name. His smile turned a little shier and one of her own grew too. She looked back to her paper and put it back in her backpack, zipping it up and putting it back on the ground. She was so distracted by his smile that she didn’t even realize until minutes later that she hadn’t even grabbed her book, but she didn’t even care because all she could think about was his eyes and his smile and the way her name sounded coming out of his lips. The whispering resumed for a little bit before turning back into a normal volume conversation about the upcoming football season, but she wasn’t as compelled to eavesdrop now, instead she was lost in her own daydream. 

The rest of the lunch period flew by, and as she was leaving to go to her next class, she was stopped by someone calling out her name. Not just someone, Rowan. She turned around and saw him hurrying to catch her in the hallway before she could get caught up in the rest of the crowd. Fenrys was next to him, but he walked away quickly, shooting her a wink as he went.

“Yeah?” She asked, pausing to let him catch up. Once he did, he smiled the same shy smile as earlier and it tugged at her heartstrings.

“I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner sometime,” he said, his nervousness displayed by how rushed his words were. She smiled brightly, and she saw the hope rise in his eyes.

“I would love to,” She replied, and his smile then matched hers.

“Great,” he said cheerfully as the warning bell rang signaling there were only a few minutes until class started, “I’ll text you later to plan the details.” She nodded her head in agreement, still shocked that this was even happening.

“Sounds good.” Rowan started to turn away, heading for the English hall, when she realized something. “Wait, Rowan, I didn’t give you my number.” His expression turned a little sheepish.

“I, uh, already have it. I asked Aedion for it a few months ago.” Her eyebrows shot up. It made sense that he asked Aedion, they were both on the football team, but a few months ago? “But I never got the courage to ask you out until today.” He scratched the back of his head, and looked away from her dumbfounded face. Apparently her unrequited crush hadn’t been as one sided as she thought. That thought made her happy, but also frustrated at how much time they had wasted.

“Well you should have asked me sooner, I would’ve said yes,” she said, earning a surprised look from Rowan. She looked up at the clock and saw that they only had a minute to get to class. “I gotta go,” she continued, “but I’ll see you later?” He nodded, smiling, and they both turned to run off their respective ways before they were late. She spent the rest of the school day with a fat smile on her face that couldn’t be erased by anything. Not her AP bio test, not the piles of homework from her calc class, and not the judging comments from Dorian and Chaol. Maybe days alone at lunch weren’t the worst things in the world.


End file.
